The Eternal Garden is an intimate account of some of the earliest years of the California Lolita subcultural fashion scene from 2003-2007. The small, lushly printed book strolls through memories of events such as community picnics, high teas, convention photo shoots, industry dinners, brand fashion shows, and even the Kamikaze Girls movie premiere. It also documents many behind-the-scenes and personal moments behind the frilly public face the community presented.
Lolita clothing (or as it was generally referred to at the time “Gothic Lolita”, along with innumerable related sub-styles like EGL) came into the Western consciousness with the ubiquitous Fruits books documenting Japanese youth street fashion. My significant other at the time was a fashion designer who became obsessed with this genre of fashion and found a tightly-knit group of people online who shared her passion. There was a small nexus of people in the Los Angeles area who started organizing events in person, and as I was already known for my documentary photo project on early cosplay and anime conventions, I was invited to help them document their scene. These images are of this group of friends – and sometimes enemies – as the fashion style grew toward wider recognition with brands such as Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and Innocent World (both of which were gracious enough to let me photograph their events) gaining fans and recognition in the American market. But when I started shooting these images, there were only a small number of people on the West Coast importing, wearing, and creating the clothing. In making this book, I chose to focus on this early, small community, preserving the intimate memories that wouldn’t be in a glossy fashion magazine but show the early fans’ work to explore and grow a style that would change fashion.
